Thursday, October 6, 2011

This year, we decided to get predictions from around the blogosphere to weigh in on their predictions for the 2011-2012 NHL season. Three female and three male bloggers (plus of course yours truly) voiced their opinions.

The 2011-2012 panel participants:

Adam - @Adam_KOL - Adam writes for the blog "Kings of Leonis" (Capitals) as well as also contributing to SB Nation DC, Raw Charge, and Mr. Irrelevant DC.

Let's start off by looking at more general predictions across the league - how will the divisions shake out?

Pretty near-unanimous across the board in all three Eastern divisions, with Pittsburgh and Washington expected to dominate and for Boston to strongly defend their Stanley Cup.

It gets more interesting in the Western conference, where our participants only share one strong opinion - that Vancouver will again dominate the Northwest. Predictions are pretty evenly split for the Pacific, with the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings again battling it out for the top slot in a heavily-contended division, and while Chicago is strongly favored in Central, Detroit and Nashville gets nods as well.

ADAM

ANN

CAROLYN

CHERYL

KELLY

MATT

SARAH

Atlantic

PIT

PIT

PIT

PIT

PIT

PHL

PIT

2nd

PHL

PHL

PHL

NYR

PHL

PIT

PHL

3rd

NYR

NJD

NJD

PHL

NJD

NYR

NYR

4th

NYI

NYR

NYI

NYI

NYR

NJD

NJD

5th

NJD

NYI

NYR

NJD

NYI

NYI

NYI

Northeast

BOS

BOS

BOS

BOS

BOS

BUF

BOS

2nd

BUF

MTL

BUF

BUF

MTL

BOS

MTL

3rd

MTL

BUF

MTL

MTL

BUF

TOR

BUF

4th

TOR

TOR

TOR

TOR

TOR

MTL

OTT

5th

OTT

OTT

OTT

OTT

OTT

OTT

TOR

Southeast

WSH

TBL

TBL

WSH

WSH

WSH

WSH

2nd

TBL

WSH

WSH

TBL

TBL

WBL

TBL

3rd

CAR

CAR

CAR

CAR

CAR

CAR

CAR

4th

FLA

FLA

FLA

FLA

FLA

FLA

WPG

5th

WPG

WPG

WPG

WPG

WPG

WPG

FLA

Central

DET

NSH

CHI

CHI

CHI

CHI

DET

2nd

CHI

CHI

DET

DET

DET

DET

CHI

3rd

CBJ

STL

NSH

NSH

NSH

NSH

STL

4th

STL

DET

SBJ

CBJ

STL

CBJ

NSH

5th

NSH

CBJ

STL

STL

CBJ

STL

CBJ

Northwest

VAN

VAN

VAN

VAN

VAN

VAN

VAN

2nd

MN

CGY

MN

MN

COL

MN

MN

3rd

CGY

MN

CGY

CGY

CGY

CGY

COL

4th

COL

COL

EDM

EDM

MN

EDM

CGY

5th

EDM

EDM

COL

COL

EDM

COL

EDM

Pacific

LAK

SJS

LAK

SJS

LAK

LAK

SJS

2nd

SJS

ANA

SJS

LAK

SJS

SJS

LAK

3rd

ANA

LAK

ANA

ANA

ANA

ANA

PHX

4th

DAL

DAL

DAL

DAL

PHX

DAL

DAL

5th

PHX

PHX

PHX

PHX

DAL

PHX

ANA

When we started discussing point spreads, however, that's when things were a bit more interesting. Washington was expected to have a strong showing in the East, but our panelists were split between who would take home the President's Trophy next spring.

While three of the four eastern participants felt Boston would be there to defend their title again in the Final round, western bloggers were a bit more mixed, opting for Tampa Bay, Washington and Pittsburgh. For the western champs, nearly evenly split between San Jose, Los Angeles and Chicago. Based on those, it's not surprising to see the mix of predictions of who will take Lord Stanley home next June.

ADAM

ANN

CAROLYN

CHERYL

KELLY

MATT

SARAH

Eastern

WSH

TBL

PIT

WSH

WSH

WSH

WSH

2nd

PIT

BOS

TBL

PIT

PIT

BUF

BOS

3rd

BOS

WSH

BOS

TBL

BOS

PHL

TBL

Western

VAN

SJS

LAK

SJS

VAN

VAN

SJS

2nd

LAK

VAN

CHI

CHI

LAK

LAK

VAN

3rd

DET

NSH

VAN

VAN

CHI

CHI

LAK

President's
Trophy

VAN

TBL

PIT

WSH

VAN

VAN

WSH

Eastern
finalist

WSH

TBL

BOS

WSH

PIT

BOS

BOS

Western
finalist

LAK

SJS

LAK

CHI

CHI

SJS

SJS

Stanley
Cup
Champs

WSH

TBL

BOS

CHI

CHI

SJS

BOS

Who will take home some hardware next spring? There's not many sweeps across the board, but Geno Malkin's return - especially with Crosby still off the ice - is expected to help give him a boost in favor of the Hart. If Barry Trotz can take his team to the playoffs again - and no doubt he will, despite losing some top offensive players - then the Jack Adams might finally go his way. Shea Weber will likely take home his first Norris; Ovechkin will be back to form in the scoring department; Kesler is going to look to defend his Selke; and this just might be the year for Pekka Rinne.

ADAM

ANN

CAROLYN

CHERYL

KELLY

MATT

SARAH

Art Ross

Malkin

Stamkos

Malkin

Ovechkin

Malkin

H Sedin

Malkin

Conn Smythe

Vokoun

Lecavalier

Chara

Sharp

Keith

Thornton

Bergeron

Calder

Scheifele
(WPG)

Blum
(NSH)

Johansen
(CBJ)

Atkinson
(CBJ)

Dalpe
(CAR)

Read
(PHL)

De Costa
(OTT)

Hart

Malkin

Stamkos

Malkin

Malkin

Malkin

D Sedin

Malkin

Jack Adams

Boucher

Trotz

Quenneville

Trotz

Trotz

Trotz

Trotz

Lady Byng

St Louis

Datsyuk

Parise

Lidstrom

Datsyuk

Lidstrom

St Louis

Norris

Weber

Weber

Lidstrom

Weber

Weber

Weber

Chara

Rocket Richard

Ovechkin

D Sedin

Stamkos

Ovechkin

Ovechkin

D Sedin

Stamkos

Selke

Kesler

Kesler

Kesler

Toews

Kesler

M Richards

Bergeron

Vezina

Lundqvist

Rinne

Rinne

Rinne

Rinne

Bryzgalov

Rinne

Finally, a little bit of fun -- taking a look at who'll impress, and who'll need a reality check. Coach Kevin Dineen, new head coach of the Florida Panthers, is expected to make the strongest immediate impact. Beyond Florida, however, it's anybody's guess as to who'll improve the most, who's going to be a stand out, and who might crash and burn along the way. We'll check back in when spring rolls around and see how our panelists did!

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HockeyBroad aims to show the level of knowledge, passion and support that female fans have for the sport of hockey. HB also analyzes all aspects of professional hockey: marketing, fan connectivity, game recaps, special events and more.

HB primarily follows the Chicago Blackhawks, as well as more general NHL and some AHL & ECHL coverage.You can also find my work as the Blackhawks writer on TheCheckingLine.com(Cheryl L. Adams).